When it comes to ODI cricket, it is the West Indian template that first found success. While the men from the Caribbean Islands won the first two editions of the ODI World Cup, they reached the final in 1983 before losing to Team India. In 2004, West Indies also won the ICC Champions Trophy in England. In this article, we take a glance at the all-time best West Indies XI in ODI cricket history.
Openers: Chris Gayle and Desmond Haynes
Although it is the T20’s that he currently operates in, Chris Gayle has been a fine ODI cricketer for his country. In fact, having played 298 games so far, the Jamaican is the highest run-getter for West Indies in ODIs with 10425 runs. Interestingly, he is also the fifth top wicket-taker with 167 wickets.
In his debut ODI, against Australia, Desmond Haynes scored 148 runs and this still remains as the highest individual score on ODI debut. The opener also scored a century on his last game, a feat which very few have achieved. The most memorable outing for Haynes was the 1979 World Cup, where he won the trophy for his team.
Middle-Order: Brian Lara, Sir Viv Richards (C), Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin (WK)
A legend of the game, West Indies has not seen a better dual-format batsman than Brian Lara, so far. Apart from accumulating over 10000 ODI runs for his side, Lara also captained West Indies in the famous Champions Trophy win in 2004. That trophy was the major victory for them after 25 years. Hence, Lara bats at No.3 in the all-time best West Indies XI in ODI cricket history.
Sir Viv Richards batted at an average of 47 throughout his career. An aggressive captain, who enjoyed a success rate of 65%, the legend batted with a swagger, that made most of the bowlers get tense while bowling at him. He is the obvious choice to be the captain of this unit.
A modern great, Shivnarine Chanderpaul made 8778 ODI runs in 268 matches for West Indies. Especially after Lara’s retirement, Chanderpaul held the Windies’ batting together. A stance that did not feature in any coaching manual, Chanderpaul proved that there is a chance of success outside the textbook.
In the 139 games that he played, Denesh Ramdin effected 188 dismissals behind the wicket. At the same time, he scored 2200 runs and was also at the helm of the side for a while, although it was for just one game in ODIs.
All-Rounders: Carl Hooper and Dwayne Bravo
Carl Hooper‘s contributions to West Indies in ODIs was enormous. With the bat, he scored 5761 runs, while batting at difficult positions. Importantly, Hooper took 193 wickets with his right-arm off-break and is currently the fourth-highest wicket-taker for his country in ODIs. He also led his country for 49 games and achieved a win rate of 48%.
The conflicts with the board and priority issues between formats have been obstacles to his career, but Dwayne Bravo was still a fine ODI cricketer for West Indies. It was after a long time that West Indies had got a seam-bowling all-rounder who could contribute equally in both departments. 199 wickets and 2968 runs in 164 games have been Bravo’s contributions in ODI cricket, till now.
Bowlers: Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Malcolm Marshall
Let alone the all-time best West Indies XI in ODI cricket history, this fast-bowling trio could walk into the all-time ODI XI, too. Such was their impact and flair that batsmen used to fear seeing them start their run-up. Together, the trio has a total of 609 ODI scalps.
It is not easy to bowl quick for a very long time. But Walsh bowled more than 10000 ODI balls and all through, his pace remained intact. His height, too, added spunk to his deliveries. Branded the most lethal pace bowler of his generation, Ambrose combined terrific use of seam along with his raw pace to be a nightmare for the batsmen. His ODI career economy of 3.48 is a dream for many pacers. Malcolm Marshall was a better swing bowler than his counterparts and accounted for variety in the Windies bowling line-up. He tragically lost his life to cancer at the age of 41.
